User reviews

In 1820, handsome dance instructor Charles Collins (as Jonathan Pride) decides to visit his aunt in California. Young Mr. Collins thrills the ladies by waltzing with his hands touching their waists. Leaving his giddy pupils wanting more, Collins takes the long route - around the continent of South America. Armed with only his satchel and an umbrella (to return to his aunt), Collins is mistaken for a pirate. As the "Dancing Pirate", he holds up in the western town of La Paloma. There, he dances, faces danger, and falls in love with lovely Senorita Steffi Duna (as Serafina Perena), daughter of the town's bumbling mayor, Frank Morgan (as Don Emilio Perena).

The well-staged "Finale" earned an "Academy Award" nomination for dance director Russell Lewis. Leading man Collins looks like he had everything needed to become a major star - possibly, he found himself in the wrong studio, at the wrong time. Without the takes afforded the standard era star (Fred Astaire), he manages to be dazzling, in his solo routines. The scene with Collins' umbrella stuffed down the front of his pants provides a visual worthy of a Mae West double-entendre. Mr. Morgan isn't a very convincing "Don", but he is always a film asset. Ms. Duna, a Hungarian woman, is a beautiful and believable Senorita.

Currently, this film is more available in "black & white" than "color" - this is not always a disadvantage, but "Dancing Pirate" really should be seen in color. Although my "Hollywood Legends" VHS Madacy HWGL-5512 says "B & W" on the sleeve, this release of film IS definitely "in color". It most certainly does NOT star cover-girl Rita Hayworth, however. Ms. Hayworth, Pat Nixon, and Marjorie Reynolds can be spotted among the dancing extras (provided you know who you are looking for well enough to spot them).

****** Dancing Pirate (5/22/36) Lloyd Corrigan ~ Charles Collins, Steffi Duna, Frank Morgan

Boston dance teacher Charles Collins is shangaied by pirates. He escapes from them in Spanish California, where he is about to be hanged by Alcalde Frank Morgan (!). Morgan's daughter, Steffi Duna saves him on condition he will teach her the waltz. While this is going on, renegade captain Victor Varconi marches in with his troops. He plans to marry Miss Duna, receiving a dowry of hundreds of thousands of acres and tens of thousands of cattle.

Although I looked at a black&white copy, this was the third feature shot in 3-strip Technicolor, and the costuming betokens this. The story is silly and conventional for the era, and there are plenty of skilled farceurs in the cast, including Luis Alberni, with one immense production number feature Eduardo Cansino -- Rita Hayworth's father -- and his dance troupe. As an actor, Collins is a good dancer. He was born in 1904, and married dance partner Dorothy Stone, with whom he appeared in several Broadway musicals through 1945. His movie career was limited. Another film lead was his in 1944, but he appeared in a total of a dozen shorts and features from 1932 through being part of the chorus in THE WIZ. He died in 1999.

The Dancing Pirate which was released by RKO in 1936 was one of the last films done with an original score by Rodgers&Hart. They would be moving back to Broadway and had a string of hit musicals only interrupted by Larry Hart's death in 1943.

As this was an RKO film watching it now it was fairly obvious that this film was created with Fred Astaire in mind for the lead. Had Astaire done it The Dancing Pirate might be better remembered. Certainly the two songs done by Dick and Larry aren't among the most memorable. In fact the best number in the film is a dance by lead Charles Collins to Yankee Doodle Dandy that had Astaire written all over it.

In fact the main weakness of the film is Collins. A good dancer, Collins had a screen presence that was colorless, odorless, and tasteless. He plays a Boston dancing teacher who gets shanghaied by pirates and escapes the first chance he can when they put in to California for provisions.

Still ruled by Spain, the local Alcalde is Frank Morgan at his decisiveless best. Morgan on loan from MGM is the best thing about The Dancing Pirate.

Collins is sad to say guilty by association and the men want to hang him, but the women want to learn to dance so he's in legal limbo of sorts.

He also has competition for the hand of Morgan's daughter Steffi Duna in the person of Captain Victor Varconi from Monterey at the head of a platoon of dragoons ostensibly there to protect the village from pirates. But Varconi has his own plans, Snidely Whiplash type plans.

The Dancing Pirate won an Oscar nomination for the now defunct category of dance direction. I long for the day when musicals of all kinds were being churned out and a category like dance direction was warranted. Speaking of dancing Rita Hayworth is in this film as part of her family troupe of Spanish dancers, The Dancing Cansinos.

The Dancing Pirate is an amusing enough film, but it really needed Fred Astaire to put it over.

This movie bombed so bad at the theaters in 1936 that RKO didn't make another color musical for 16 years!!! And it still stinks today! And to make matters worse... the DVD copy they are selling is a Black and White, 16mm bootleg print, that they somehow got copyrighted.. or at least they claim to hold the copyright. This thing has bad film splices and grainy picture quality. Plus the DVD jacket confuses Frank Morgan who is in this picture and was the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz" with Harry Morgan who is not in this movie but was in "Mash" on TV. Real film historians!!!! Yeah right! I would have liked to seen the color version though, just for the fun of early Techocolor. I should learn not to take free movies from "friends". Do yourself a favor... don't buy dollar DVD's and never take free movies from friends! Oh and BTW, saying it is "digitally remastered" just means they transfered the film onto a digital DVD. They love to play word games.

Charles Collins is a very unlikely leading man in "Dancing Pirate". He's a man with a rather weak voice and looks that don't seem like leading man material....and it's one of the only times Collins starred in a film. I am NOT being negative...he might have been a nice guy...but this film isn't something that helped him or his career.

When the film begins, Jonathan Pride (Collins) is leading a dancing class in what appears to be America circa 1830. Soon he's shanghaiied and finds himself an unwilling crew member on a pirate ship. He's miserable and mistreated and the first chance he got, he escaped. While this sounds great, the folks in the town where he landed think he's a brutal pirate and they capture him...and plan on hanging him! Can he convince them he's just a harmless dance instructor....or is he destined to assume room temperature?

This film is clearly intended as a musical. There's lots of dancing and I think, in hindsight, this is a mistake. The plot clearly would have worked better as a comedy...instead of a weak musical. A few laughs and no giant dance numbers and the film would have been a more enjoyable diversion...instead of inconsequential fluff.

I got this out of the 50 musicals set. It said it was in Technicolor but it the print was curiously in black and white. The Plot-a dancing master gets kidnapped to be a galley worker on a pirate boat. He ends up in Calfornia near Monterey which at that time was populated with Mexicans. At first they arrest him, but he charms the whole town. This was an entertaining little musical. Not perfect and not a classic but definitely worth a look for Charles Collins and Frank Morgan.

It had a lead I have never heard of... Charles Collins who was quite a talented dancer-singer-actor . He kind of looks like Kevin Kline. Amazed the man didn't have a more illustrious career as he had all the makings of what constituted a star back then. Quite an interesting discovery. Frank Morgan (the wizard of oz) is quite funny as the bumbling mayor. The film was quite enjoyable.

The DVD is in B & W. Remastered but lacks any depth --- still looks old. Set in the 1800s the "Dance Master" does a lot of 1930 style tap dancing. Frank Morgan is funny but the rest is almost a waste of time. The whole problem with the culture and his teaching WALTZ dancing was how putting his right hand on the lady was an offense. I can't tell if this was for the 1936 audience or part of the 1800s culture. A few times a Mexican band played a few bars of Malaguena and then mixed it in with some other music style. Plot holes--The main character was kidnapped and forced to work on a pirate ship. Then he is let loose on land-the map shows LOS ANGELES; but he is clearly in Mexico... The map shows California is a state although in the 1800s; I believe the map is wrong for that era. Then when he is walking into town; the pirate ship leaves him--there is no explanation at all....

The impressive vivid colors produced by the three-strip system of Technicolor's first two feature films were beginning to perk the interest of Hollywood to the new technology. The third full-length motion picture to be released using the company's new film stock was May 1936's "Dancing Pirate," cinema's first feature film musical shot in that format.

"It's incredible how far a picture can get on great color, good dancing, and solid jokes," described film reviewer Andrew Wickliffe on "Dancing Pirate." Critic James Harrison added at the time of its release, "'Dancing Pirate' is an amusing diversion and a treat for the eyes when the dazzling Technicolor lights up the screen. The dancing of all involved is as good and pleasurable as any major studio production." For years after its release, "Dancing Pirate" fell into obscurity, with only a cheap 16mm two-color Cinecolor process available. Then collector Wade Williams stepped forward with his private 35mm pristine copy. A restoration with 4K scan was performed, and the film, with Rita Hayworth, Pat Ryan (President Nixon's future wife), and Marjorie Reynolds appearing as three of the many dancers, was shown in a pristine print.

Pioneer Pictures, a subsidiary of RKO Pictures and producers of the first three-strip Technicolor feature film, 1935 "Becky Sharp," was responsible for "Dancing Pirate." Adapted from Emma-Lindsay Squier's 1930 Colliers Magazine story 'Glorious Buccaneer,' the movie centers around Jonathan Pride (Charles Collins), a Boston dance instructor in 1920 who is captured by pirates and sails to California as a slave. He escapes to a small coastal town where he is to be hanged for piracy. Serafina (Steffi Duna), daughter to the mayor (Frank Morgan), intercedes shortly before his execution with the stipulation Jonathan teaches her and her friends how to waltz.

Collins was a Broadway performer who had done film work since 1932, but "Dancing Pirate" was his biggest role yet. Married to dancer/actress Dorothy Stone, Collins had appeared in several films, live plays and a nightclub act with his wife. He never reached the top tier of actors mainly because most felt he was too tall and lean. Collins last appeared in the 1984 TV show 'The Master,' where his character reminisces about his audition for "Dancing Pirate." He died in 1999 at age 95.

I would have liked the movie even more, I'm sure, if I'd seen the color version. Unfortunately, the only version I could find was the black-and-white, which I purchased out of curiosity from a bin of one dollar DVDs at Wal-Mart. Anyhow, "The Dancing Pirate" is certainly no masterpiece, but it's hard to dislike this movie. It's harmless, goofy, sort-of-weird entertainment (just about what you'd expect from the title), and the main character is a likable guy. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't actually contain any dancing pirates (the main character, "a dancing master," is mistaken for a pirate), but the dancing it does contain ain't bad. If you're the type of person who'd consider buying a movie called "The Dancing Pirate" from a bin of one dollar DVDs at Wal-Mart, you'll like this movie, as did I.

This is just an example of an incredibly stupid movie that never got lots of Oscar nominations for some reason of course it is obviously the people from Hollywood don't know quality anymore but in those days they still good be expected to feel anything for you for the beautifully even then they did not this movie Kayleigh shows this.

I saw this movie when I was five years old and never heard of it again. All I could remember was the fellow dancing with a noose around his neck. Looked for it for years, then saw it, just in the past year, in a bin as a Rita Hayworth movie. Thanks to the generic title I recognized it right away. There won't be many comments on this one, as it's virtually unknown, but I've looked at it twice and it brings back a memory of a movie I loved so much as a child, though nothing came back to me except the mentioned dancing scene. It's offbeat, in terrific color and I think enjoyable . Did anybody ever hear of the dancer who played the title role again?

A little short on music, but worth watching for handsome dancer Charles Collins, who seemed destined for stardom but never quite got there. It is also fun to try to spot young Rita Hayworth among the extras supporting Hungarian actress Steffi Duna, who with Frank Morgan (the bumbling wizard in The Wizard of Oz) watching, does a mighty fine waltz with Collins. It is also interesting to note that although the film was made in early Technicolor, no color prints are known to exist. You will see echoes of this film in Vincent Minelli's "The Pirate" with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.

The Dancing Pirate is worth watching for a several reasons: the over-the-top early Technicolor hues, the spectacular finale featuring the Royal Cansino Dancers (including a young Rita Hayworth) and a very small appearance at the beginning of the movie by Pat Ryan, later to be Pat Nixon. But more than these things, I like The Dancing Pirate as a forgotten movie about Los Angeles. The movie depicts a Boston dance teacher kidnapped by pirates who escapes into the sleepy Alta California village of La Paloma.

This is an obvious adaptation of the real-life story of Joseph Chapman. Chapman, originally from Boston, deserted Hippolyte de Bouchard's piratical coastal raiding party to become the first yanqui resident of Los Angeles in 1818. Chapman, like the character in the movie, became a solid citizen of the little pueblo. Unlike the character in the movie, there's no historical evidence that Chapman could dance, however.

Here is a film that does not even appear in the Leonard Maltin Classic Movie Guide. It's reputation is such that most people would overlook it even if they had the chance to see it. The third feature film to be filmed in Technicolor, it seems to exist only in a black-and-white public domain print. That said, I found this to be a delightful old-fashioned style musical with a wisp of a plot that was apparently based on a true story. Charles Collins, an English musical star is featured in the lead role, and he proves to be a competent actor as well as a terrific dancer. Steffi Duna was enchanting in the female leading role. There are several well-staged dance numbers set to beautiful Rodgers and Hart music. One book says that these songs, along with just about everything else in the movie "walks the plank". I find the music, especially the lovely "When You're Dancing The Waltz" to be beautiful. My only regret is not being able to see this in Technicolor. However, I suppose, with all the older films that have been lost due to indifference or neglect, I should be grateful to see this in any form. Anyway, I liked it, regardless of what the critics say.

People have noted that the "The Dancing Pirate" was original and unique. That is true, but it is set firmly in a Gilbert and Sullivan "Pirates of Penzance" absurd world. In this world, a genteel dancing instructor can be mistaken for a bloodthirsty pirate.

There are lots of scenes that seem to foreshadow scenes in other movies. Its important to remember that this 1936 movie preceded these other films. The scene of Dancing Instructor Johnathan Pride (Charles Collins) entering a small Californian town and being mistaken for an invading pirate army reminds one of "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming" (Jewison, 1966). The scene of male versus female Spanish dancers at the end reminds one of the "America" scene in West Side Story (Wise, 1961). Robert Collins' athletic dancing reminds one of Gene Kelley in "The Pirate" (Minnelli, 1948), although Collins' skinny frame also reminds one of Ray Bulger's scarecrow in "Wizard of Oz" (Minnelli, 1939). Speaking of Wizard of Oz" Frank Morgan, the wizard of "Wizard of Oz" gives a performance here that is very close to the wizard, as he plays another bumbling authority figure, the mayor of a Spanish village. Another technique first used here and copied in "Wizard of Oz" is that the movie begins in black and White and only switches to color when we arrive in the magical land of California. I found one other connection to the "Wizard of Oz." The star of this film, Charles Collins, had a voice-over in "The Wiz" (Lumet, 1978).

I saw a very bad dark and muddy color print of this movie on Amazon Prime streaming video. The N.Y. Times reviewer in 1936 raved about the Technicolor of the original. I hope someday someone goes to the trouble of restoring the film to its original color. This print made the film difficult to watch. However, the great choreography, humorous story, and wonderful performances by leads Charles Collins, Frank Morgan, and Steffi Duna won me over.

If you like Gilbert and Sullivan, I think you'll find "the Dancing Pirate" witty and charming. The songs are by Rodgers and Hart, while not their best work ("Pal Joey"), they still are very good.

I found this movie in a dollar bin. That should have been my first warning. The movie has been "digitally remastered", leading to the technicolor being remastered right out of it. The box also claims that Frank Morgan is "of Mash TV series fame", in spite of the fact that he died decades before the TV series came out.

I suppose seeing the dancing instructor dance in a noose is worth the price of admission, though. (That's not a spoiler-it's on the menu screen.) And I probably would have liked it when I was a kid, and could handle nonsensical situations leading to improbable tap dancing scenes. :)

One day while scrounging the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, I was looking for something unique, daring, and funny. and then, out of the pile shone a beacon of hope. it was "the Dancing Pirate". and I thought "Dancing? Pirates? Could there be romance? Yes, yes, and yes? and in exotic locations? What more could you want?????" I decided to premiere my new find at a all night movie watching party. My friends would be impressed with my exquisite taste, I was sure(though I had not watched the film myself yet, I was confident). And the Dancing Pirate came through, dancing his way into mine and my dear friends' hearts. It was so bad, it was awesome. Long Live the Dancing Pirate!!! "Don't thank me....teach me."

While I note that the other comments are positive about this film I can't be. I purchased a video of it in 1988 or so, and it was the only time I saw any store carrying a video of it. It is the first technicolor musical, and it is a Rogers and Hart score (one good tune: "Are You My Love?"), and Morgan and Luis Alberni try to do the best with their parts, and Stefi Duna is a good dancer. Unfortunately, the screenplay is weak, and so is Charles Collins. How Collins got the role is a mystery, although I suspect he was not the first person to be approached for the role: Judging from his height and build it is possible that the role was meant to be offered to the similarly slender and tall Fred Astaire. Astaire (if he was approached) wisely declined because the script is so bad. The central character never becomes interesting enough to involve ourselves in his life. Collins probably got the role because he is a dancer (his opening scene is demonstrating a dance to a music box he turns on). But he was a stiff, and boring, and timid actor. Maybe an Astaire could have colored the role properly, but Collins couldn't. And the story requires coloring. The> shanghaid dancer is mistaken for a pirate in California. He is treated well by Morgan (the local bumbling alcalde), until a squad of soldiers come to the town. They take over (quite literally - they are a squad of soldiers turned brigands under Victor Valconi and Jack La Rue), and are only stopped when Collins suddenly cannot take their taunts anymore and leads the peasants against them. It is just too much of a leap of faith for a viewer to accept. And the film fails as a result.

When recalling Rogers and Hart for their musicals, think PAL JOEY or THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE (on stage). Or remember their early musical films (experimental ones) HALLELUJAH I'M A BUM! and LOVE ME TONIGHT. Don't remember them for THE DANCING PIRATE

This is a really enjoyable movie if you enjoy good dancing, including tap dancing, Latin dancing with castanets and capes, and acrobatic dodging of a sword. The lead is a very capable triple threat and the leading lady beautiful and a good actress. There is nothing frightening for the kids except the very young might not like it that a couple people are knocked unconscious on the back of the head, but this is done in a comedic way and no one suffers lasting consequences. The actor playing the head of the ranch is very funny and stole every scene he was in, but the others were very good as well. The main baddie is sufficiently dastardly without being frightening for any kids. The hero's charm and unflappable good will would reassure kids that it will work out alright. There are a few laugh-out-loud hilarious scenes. I loved the movie and am so glad it was rescued from obscurity!